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Sickbay (also known as medical bay or infirmary) is the primary location for medical treatment aboard a starship. Research is conducted here to find cures for life-threatening illnesses. In case of an emergency on a planet, sickbay can be used to treat many patients.[]
There is at least one modern sickbay facility located on every Federation starship, equipped with ICU and Biohazard Support, a Radiation Treatment Ward that doubles as a Surgical Ward, a ward for Null-Gravity Treatment, and Isolation Suites. Two fully-equipped medical laboratories are located here. There is also a Morgue, usually accessed through the Med Lab. Sickbay facilities have a medical stores compartment filled with medications that cannot be easily replicated, medical tricorders, hyposprays, protoplasers, laser scalpels, DNA resequencers, portable molecular microscopes and imaging scanners, and a host of other state-of-the-art equipment. The Chief Medical Officer’s office is attached to Main Sickbay, and the main ward contains a load-out of two to four standard biobeds, with ten more in the main cargo bay for installation on a moment's notice, and a small complement of emergency cots. Pursuant to new Medical Protocols, all Medical Facilities are equipped with holo-emitters for the emergency usage of the Emergency Medical Hologram System. A Nova Class starship sickbay is normally staffed by one or two doctors, one or two nurses, and three or four medical technicians; during a Red Alert, all medical staff are called to duty.
USS Twilight NCC-74413 was deliberately refit as a “medical research vessel” as much as she was originally designed as a planetary surveyor. Then-Commander Harker made a number of changes when he learned he was to be her next commanding officer, and the San Francisco Fleet Yards put in a lot of overtime to get Twilight ready within the six-month deadline. She has two permanent, fully-equipped sickbays and two medical labs on Deck 3. Additionally, Cargo Bay 2 can be reconfigured into a third sickbay, capable of treating non-humanoid lifeforms, with an hours’ notice. Two holosuites were added, both hardwired to become any specialized sickbay or laboratory required. All guest quarters can be converted into extended treatment wards, with both the VIP Quarters and Cargo Bay 2 able to simulate H, K, L, N, and N(2) environments, and all remaining cargo bays, bio-labs, the Main Shuttlebay, and the Mess Hall, can all be outfitted as triage and treatment centers. All starship commanders and crewmen of Nova Class starships thus have Dr. Harker to thank for their new holodecks, because originally, they weren’t thought necessary.
A Galaxy Class Starship like the USS Enterprise-D had three vast sickbay facilities, two located in the saucer/primary hull, and a third in the engineering hull, to handle the medical care for a crew of over 1,000 individuals and their families. In addition, a Galaxy-Class Starship could be called to handle a medical emergency, in which case all three shuttlebays and a number of cargo areas could be immediately converted into triage centers or even full sickbays for treatment of casualties. In addition, a shuttlebay's atmospheric systems could easily be converted to accommodate H, K, L, N, and N(2) environments for non-humanoid lifeforms.
In most modern starships since the 2370's, a sickbay complex comes equipped with an Emergency Medical Hologram, which is essentially a computer-controlled holographic doctor who is fully-capable of handling any medical crisis, from analysis and diagnosis, to advanced surgery. USS Voyager's EMH was on-line for so long, that he achieved sentience and developed a distinct personality, so much so that Voyager's captain and crew considered him one of them, an artificial life-form.
LUG Game Stats: Once in a starship sickbay and if still alive, a patient can be cured of almost any condition, and all wounds can be rapidly treated. If an unknown disease has infected the patient, the doctor has a +2 to cure this disease with the equipment and facilities of the sickbay. If the EMH is activated, that help increases by +5.
External Links[]
- Sickbay article at Memory Alpha, the canon Star Trek wiki.
- Sickbay article at Memory Beta, the non-canon Star Trek wiki.